NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 20 — Former Cabinet Secretary Raphael Tuju has formally resigned from former President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party citing the outfit’s new political trajectory.
Tuju, in a letter addressed to Kenyatta, said alluded to developments over a six week period including a National Executive Committee (NEC) chaired by Kenyatta.
The former Secretary General, who served as CS without portfolio during Kenyatta’s administration, explained that while he honors the direction Jubilee has chosen, he sees no further value he can personally add to its agenda.
His exit comes even as Jubilee officials rally behind former Interior CS Fred Matiangi as their preferred flag bearer for the 2027 presidential contest.
In a resignation letter, Tuju expressed gratitude for the influential position of Jubilee Secretary General between 2016 and 2022, calling it a bold gesture in Kenya’s ethnically polarized political landscape.
“It was an exceptionally bold political step on your part to have entrusted this sensitive position to me as a person coming from the Luo community, while the anchor of the party was essentially the Kikuyu and Kalenjin communities,” Tuju, who had himself declared interest in the 2013 presidential race, wrote.
Reflecting on the party’s founding ideals, Tuju noted its ambition to build a truly national movement beyond tribal lines, but added that his personal journey within the party had run its course.
“At the present time, I see no more value that I can add to the Jubilee Party. I therefore tender my resignation,” he stated, while reaffirming respect for its chosen path.
Tuju, who was Jubilee’s face during the party’s five-year rule — including the 2018 “handshake” between Kenyatta and Raila Odinga — said he still cherishes the values of unity and cautioned that Kenya’s “real enemies” remain unemployment, poverty, and inequality.
Realignments
His exit comes amid political realignments with Odinga’s ODM working with President William Ruto’s UDA under a ‘broad-based’ coalition.
In January, Jubilee Secretary General Jeremiah Kioni said the party believes Matiangi is best positioned to challenge President Ruto.
“We are looking for a person who can unify the country. We are looking at a bully in the name of William — who is this person that can look William in the eye and tell him off? That person [is] Fred Matiang’i,” Kioni told Capital FM.
Kioni added that the party deliberately chose a candidate from outside its Mount Kenya stronghold — where it secured twenty-eight parliamentary seats in 2022 — as part of its commitment to look beyond ethnic blocs.
With just two years to go, Jubilee’s endorsement of Matiangi and Tuju’s respectful departure mark early battle lines as the 2013 presidential race shapes up as a fiercely contested election.
